The present invention relates to an apparatus for performing printing estimation of a recording head used in, e.g., a printer.
Conventionally, in order to test a recording head, e.g., an ink-jet recording head, a head to be tested is attached to a jig having a mechanism equivalent to a main body of a printer which performs printing while moving the head, patterns in units of estimation items are printed on paper sheets, and the printed patterns are visually estimated. Therefore, estimation results vary due to personal differences of test persons who are in charge of estimation, and due to non-quantitative estimation.
From this point of view, estimation, which is conventionally performed by visual observation, may be automatically performed using a measurement unit such as a CCD. In this case, the measurement unit must be arranged behind a head. In addition, since the relative speed between a paper sheet and an ink droplet obtained by synthesizing the speed of an ink discharged from a head and the moving speed of the head influences the printing position on a paper sheet, when the influence (displacement) of the speed of a discharged ink is to be tested, a moving mechanism for moving a head to be tested to escape from an area necessary for measurement, or for generating the moving speed of a head obtained when the head to be tested is attached to the main body in a printing operation, is necessary.
In this arrangement, when a printed image is measured by the measurement unit, the recording head must always be escaped from a measurement area. For this reason, the mounting operation of the recording head to the apparatus, and the printing test cannot be simultaneously performed. Thus, the test time is prolonged, and cost is undesirably increased. In addition, a position where the measurement unit can be arranged is limited, and when a plurality of large-scale measurement devices or a plurality of measurement devices are necessary, measurement cannot be performed.
When a test is conducted, a head to be tested, which has a wiring member, must be inevitably moved, and the problems of disconnection of the wiring member, a complicated mechanism, and the like remain unsolved.
Furthermore, since the relative speed between a paper sheet and an ink droplet obtained by synthesizing the speed of an ink discharged from a head and the moving speed of the head influences the printing position on a paper sheet, when the influence (displacement) of the speed of a discharged ink is to be tested, a moving mechanism for moving a head to be tested to escape from an area necessary for measurement, or for generating the moving speed of a head obtained when the head to be tested is attached to the main body in a printing operation, is necessary.
Moreover, since the number of test items is large, and each test item requires a large pattern amount, not only a test but also a drawing operation itself of an estimation pattern requires a long time.